In countless boardrooms and startup garages, I’ve witnessed the fervent desire for “innovation”—a mystical key, many believe, to unlocking perpetual growth and outsmarting the grim reaper of market stagnation. Yet, this yearning often collides with a curious paradox: a deep-seated aversion to the individuals who breathe life into novelty. We speak of embracing change and disrupting industries yet recoil at unleashing the intelligent, creative, and driven minds necessary for such endeavors. It’s as if a grand conductor desires a symphony but fears the individual virtuosity that might occasionally hit a discordant note. So, why do businesses so often hesitate to work with creative people in a world desperate for newness?
Innovation: A Discipline, Not a Whim
My definition of innovation extends beyond good ideas or novel proposals. For me, true innovation is an action that must be materialized and applied with tangible, high-quality results. It is a transversal modifying force capable of changing many processes simultaneously, enabling us to rethink objects or activities through seemingly incompatible disciplines. This is not the realm of the dilettante or the casually curious. This demands intellect.
Crucially, innovation cannot exist without knowledge.
One does not arrive at a smartwatch without first navigating the sands of an hourglass, meticulously extracting lessons from each grain. This moves innovation away from the romanticized image of a visionary with a crystal ball and firmly into the domain of scientific thought. Technically, innovation is a planned action; it is not magic and certainly doesn’t occur without a profound basis in knowledge. It requires a defined focus to operate effectively on structure, processes, context, technology, quality, usability, sustainability, and durability.
Therefore, if innovation is a discipline rooted in knowledge and meticulous planning, it logically follows that the individuals driving it must possess these qualities. We are not seeking mere “creative types” in the abstract but competent, insightful, and knowledgeable minds capable of deep research and systematic intervention. The person who merely consumes innovative products cannot claim to be creative or visionary; the one who understands how home automation will transform our interaction with living spaces, rather than simply automating blinds, is the true innovator.
The Indispensable Role of Risk and Empowerment
Once you have identified these intelligent, creative, and driven individuals, the next critical step is to empower them. Innovation, by its very nature, involves taking risks. It is the search for new problems to solve, a process that inherently steps into the unknown. If a business is unwilling to promote an environment where calculated risks are not only permitted but encouraged, it inadvertently stifles the very engine of progress.
This kind of environment requires a profound shift from a reactive to a proactive mindset.
Often lacking a coherent plan, Reactive businesses wait for problems to emerge before scrambling for immediate solutions. They view the crisis as a fire to be put out rather than a preventable inferno. Such businesses often make desperate decisions, hiring under-qualified individuals or engaging in superficial activities, which only perpetuates stagnation. Conversely, true proactivity involves anticipating situations, planning, and taking initiative.
Taking seriously this role means cultivating individuals who move by carefully meditated values, apply specialized knowledge, and focus their effort on things they can truly influence.
Empowering creative people means entrusting them with the autonomy to explore, experiment, and sometimes fail. As I’ve stated previously, error is part of research and a rich source of knowledge. Contrary to popular cultural notions that view mistakes as taboo, investment in research programs with experimentation leads to more effective paths for developing functional theory and practical solutions. Large companies understand this implicitly; they design and cost their innovation method for a couple of decades into the future. This is a strategic investment in uncertainty, an understanding that not every experiment yields immediate gold, but the cumulative learning is invaluable.
Standing Behind Them: The Public Commitment
The most challenging yet crucial aspect of working with creative people is publicly supporting them when things are unplanned. The natural human tendency is to recoil from perceived failure, shift blame, or quietly sweep uncomfortable outcomes under the rug. This, however, is a catastrophic mistake when dealing with innovation.
When an initiative born of intelligent risk-taking does not yield the desired results, it is a moment not for public condemnation but for public commitment. This demonstrates to the entire organization and the market that the pursuit of innovation is valued above short-term perfection. It reinforces the understanding that failures are not terminal diagnoses but essential sources of knowledge and invaluable data points in the journey toward mastery.
As I’ve learned in my career, passion follows mastery, not vice versa, and mastery is built, not merely felt. This building process inevitably involves missteps.
Consider the long-term strategic investments made by companies like Apple or Nike. Nike, for example, consistently innovates its product quality, while Apple is known for its relentless technological innovation. These companies foster cultures where taking creative leaps is part of their operational model. They don’t shy away from experiments that don’t immediately hit the mark; instead, they learn, iterate, and integrate that knowledge. Even in the face of setbacks, this public backing builds a resilient culture of innovation. It tells creative individuals that their bold thinking is valued, even when the outcome is unexpected. It transforms risk from a terrifying precipice into a navigable challenge.
In sum, for any business seeking genuine innovation, the path is clear, albeit demanding. It necessitates identifying and hiring intelligent, creative, and driven individuals capable of deep, systematic work. It requires empowering them with the autonomy to take calculated risks and understanding that experimentation is vital to learning. And perhaps most importantly, it demands the courage to publicly stand behind them when those risks do not yield immediate success, transforming perceived failures into invaluable lessons for future breakthroughs. Anything less is merely gesturing at innovation while clinging desperately to the familiar comfort of stagnation.
